Selicy was surprised when her slashes and attacks didn’t even leave a scratch on Reva’s shield. She darted away before Reva could even counter, causing Reva to just swing at empty air. Selicy was already behind Reva, but once again her ice couldn’t pierce the armor. Even then, Selicy was gone before Reva could finish turning around.

“How’s she so fast?!” Reva shouted.

“Her feet!” Saffron shouted. “Snow is freezing under her feet, making an ice plain to skate over!” Selicy skated right outside of their reach, circling them over and over again in an attempt to think of some way to take them all on.

“Stand still, you flurry!” Shiso said, trying to aim his gun.

“What’d you say to tick her off?!” Hazel asked, pulling out spell cards.

“All I did was mention the name Stan and she went berserk!”

“Maybe you should’ve just let her run off.” Saffron growled.

Selicy continued to circle them, slowly spreading her ice outwards until a good portion of the ground was covered in the stuff.

“Saff, is it a good time to tell you that I actually don’t like the cold?” Hazel asked.

“No, it’d be a good time to build something!” Saffron forcefully replied. Selicy had enough of waiting; she rushed right into the middle of them.

“Everyone, scatter!” Shiso shouted. Everyone picked a different direction and ran; everyone except Reva, that is. She stood there and stopped Selicy in her tracks.

“I’m not going to fight you.” Reva firmly stated.

“Fine by me.” Selicy retorted. “You can just freeze instead.” She bent down low as she skated by and gripped Reva’s ankles for a few moments before darting away again. From the spot where Selicy touched, Reva began freezing from the legs up until she was encased in a thick layer of ice. “Stay down.” she chirped.

The other four looked at Reva’s frozen body, which looked like an ice statue. It reminded Saffron and Shiso of their first encounter with her. Shiso decided that he wasn’t going to be the one to hack her out with a kunai though.

Surprisingly, Saffron was actually the first one to make a move in the standstill. She pointed her field bracer and pulled the trigger.

“Ring of Fire!” she shouted as the spell cast. Selicy became surrounded by intense, scorching flames. Selicy looked around and panicked, beginning to hyperventilate from the flames that were burning and rising around her.

Selicy took a huge breath in and blew gusts of freezing air all around her. As the flames went away, huge clouds of thick mist rolled over the area, making it impossible for anyone to see anything.

They all heard as Violette started playing some music in an attempt to do some magic and serve as a beacon for the rest of the group to home in on. Her music and long and strung out notes, like something you’d hear in an old wild west film when the two gunslingers are about to duel. As the group hesitantly wandered towards Vio, Selicy whispered and hissed in the back of their minds as she nimbly skated around.

“You can try and try, but you’ll never be on time.” she hissed. “When you think you’ve got something, it all goes up in flames just for someone’s enjoyment.” Suddenly, Violette’s music came to an abrupt stop.

“Sounds like you know from experience!” Shiso shouted in the fog. He knew saying something would be a big gamble, but it would draw attention away from potentially attacking the others.

“What do you know about loss?!” she yelled behind Shiso. Shiso had to do a dodge roll to his left, barely missing the icy talon that would’ve raked across his neck.

For a woman boasting all of her ice powers, Selicy had a fury rage in her eyes. Jagged shards of ice covered her entire body, serving as armor plates all over. Her hands were now wicked sharp gauntlets with razor-edged ringers. When she missed Shiso, she stumbled about and caught herself on the ground, creating a layer of permafrost in the dead grass.

“I know more about loss than you probably do, kid.” Shiso warned.

“Why does everybody think I’m a kid?!” Selicy yelled in utter rage, veins throbbing. “I’m not even a teenager anymore!”

Before Selicy could get an icy claw on Shiso, a blast of blue energy shot through the mist and sent Selicy flying away through the air, making her disappear into the mist. Through the mist, Hazel emerged, breathing heavily and clearly exhausted from building the turret that she was now pushing on wheels. She took out a pack of gum and popped it into her mouth. She glanced at Shiso.

“You throw your back out or something?” she asked casually.

“Can you not be so juvenile?” he asked.

“Fine.” she said, popping a bubble. “Get your shit together; there are others still out there. They’ll probably die with our luck.”

“Maybe a bit nicer wouldn't hurt.”

“You’re whinier than normal. Just get up.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saffron ran towards Violette’s music, not wanting Selicy to get there first. When Saffron thought that she was close enough to her, she attempted to stop herself. Saffron then had exactly four seconds to feel stupid about not remembering how ice works.

Saffron crashed into Violette’s legs, which were only levatiating about an inch or two off the ground. It certainly didn’t stop her from being tripped as Saff swept Vio’s legs with her entire body, sending her crashing down on top of Saffron.

“Are you alright?” Violette gasped, scampering off of Saffron, who looked like she had been subjected to being crushed by a bag of flour rather than Vio.

“Never better.” Saff groaned. She winced in pain as she tried to turn over. “Actually, no. I’ve definitely been better. Help is appreciated.”

Vio helped Saffron up and they dusted snow off of themselves. The musician picked back up her violin and bow.

“Have you seen the others?” Saffron asked.

“I hoped they were with you.”

Suddenly, they both heard a series of shouts from their left before a giant laser blast rang out through the air.

“I think I have an idea on where they are.” Saff said sarcastically. Vio’s ears perked up and she turned around.

“Do you hear that?” she asked.

“Hear what?” Suddenly, Selicy’s screaming, airborne body rocketed into Saffron and took her down, giving them both bruises. Vio covered her mouth and gasped, getting a full view of ballistic missile Selicy taking down the poor scientist. Selicy was the first to recover.

“You had better back away before I freeze her veins solid!” she threatened, holding up Saff’s wrists, with her hand clutching it.

Selicy had never seen or heard of Violette, so the ice queen didn’t suspect anything when Vio put the bow to her instrument and started strumming away at a scherzo. At first she was confused, but then it was very quickly replaced with the feeling of taking a brick to the chest, launching her several dozen meters backwards. In the meantime, Shiso and Hazel caught up, who also helped Saffron get back on her feet.

“I don’t want to fight you!” Violette shouted, going back to playing her long-strung western-style music.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to either.” Selicy growled.

Selicy dashed forward, manifesting a giant spear of ice in her hands. She was ready to drill through any defense they might have; she picked up speed dangerously quick. Violette tried using her music, but it all seemed to bounce off of Selicy’s bullet-train of an approach.

“Pyroblast!” Saffron shouted, casting out a ball of pure flames. It collided head-on with the cryomaniac, but quickly dissipated like it was confetti.

“I’ve been burned by way hotter than that!” Selicy shouted. “Next time, try setting yourself on fire!”

Not even Shiso’s gun or Hazel’s turret were making headway in stopping Selicy. Saffron was afraid that she had already reached terminal velocity. Running was basically pointless by now. Violette tried to brace the group as much as possible with a musical shield spell as they all shit their eyes tight in anticipation.

In a flash of white, snow was kicked up in all directions as a giant shockwave was made on impact; accompanying it was a sound that was akin to shattering glass. As the massive wave cleared, all that was left standing was Selicy holding the shaft of a giant icy spear against Reva’s giant shield.

Reva stood absolutely firmly, not budging even an inch against Selicy’s attack. For the first time since the incident that scarred her forever, Selicy felt a flash of fear and disbelief. She was quick to cover it up with anger.

“I thought I told you to say down!” she yelled.

“What’s your problem?!” Reva asked, trying to understand. “I don’t know who this ‘Stan’ guy is, but I want to understand your pain.”

“I’m not in pain!” Selicy shouted. “I cause pain!” Selicy had tears running down her eyes; it was quite the contrast to the image from only a few moments ago.

“If you’d just let me…” Reva slowly let down her shield. She faced Selicy, hand outstretched. “I want to know your pain.”

Everyone stood as still as stone, holding their breath and waiting for what Selicy would do. Selicy didn’t make an effort to take Reva’s hand at all. She looked around at everyone and growled.

“What are any of you guys here for?” she asked. Nobody spoke up and Reva had stopped inching towards Selicy. “Have any of you stopped to ask who any of you are?! Where you came from?! What you’ve done?!”

“You wanna sit down and have a therapy session?” Shiso asked. “I don’t think any of us are certified to give one.” Reva raised her hand a bit.

“I was almost.” Shiso rubbed his temples.

“That’s not the point. You wanna sit down and talk; fine. Because I’m tired of trying to convince anyone on who’s enemy and ally.” Shiso put his hands up and groaned. “We’ve all got problems. That’s why we’re on our way to Eden. Don’t go thinking your pain is greater than someone else's here. We all shared each other’s pain here, so whatever pain you’ve got there inside your brain is nothing compared to what we all carry together. You wanna lift the pain off your shoulders? Join the club.”

Selicy dropped her spear and allowed all of her ice to melt down and the temperature of the immediate area began to rise just a bit again.

“Did Shiso just invite her?” Hazel whispered to Saffron.

“I don’t really know.” she said.

Selicy’s eyes began to tear up once again and Reva knelt down to give her a strong embrace. The ice queen’s tough exterior had fully melted away in front of the others. As Shiso passed by, he bent down and whispered something in Selicy’s ear.

When he finished whispering, Selicy then erupted into full sobs and crying on top of Reva’s shoulder. Violette knelt down to hug Selicy as well; Hazel and Saffron rushed on to get to Shiso. They were both confused.

“What the hell did you tell her?” Hazel asked. Shiso shook his head.

“You wouldn’t understand. I see that she’s seen some serious shit. It’s all in her eyes. I think it’d leave a bad taste in my mouth to kill someone like that.” Hazel and Saff walked out of earshot of him.

“You think he’s changed since you first met him?” Hazel asked, pointing at the gunslinger.

“Somehow or another.” Saffron laughed. “I dunno quite when it happened, but I think he learned how to feel empathy.”

The two watched as Reva and Vio hugged Selicy and tried to console her about something. Shiso watched from an even further distance, thinking of past memories and what he said to the crying girl. Silently, in the back where nobody could see him, he shed a single tear in remembrance of what used to be and what he is now.